Nighthand’s abuse of the Rue skeleton gave heart to the boy and gave him a renewed sense of desire. Desire to slay. He licked his lips and bared his teeth, crouching down on all fours trying to single out a skeleton. Ani or Rai wouldn’t do due to the elemental properties that the skeletons exhibited. That left Gan or Vak available for slaughter without the serious side effects that the Light and Time beasts presented. The Vak skeleton had been otherwise attacked and occupied by Canti and Phoenix so he instead turned his attention to the Gan skeleton. With a surprisingly feral snarl, he slammed one of his spheres of darkness into the dome of the creature. It served adequately, and the monstrosity turned its attention to him and started to lumber toward him. Giving the thing enough space to separate it from its allies the boy leaped, using all four appendages as individual coils as he barreled into the Gan skeleton.

He ignored the rock that crashed into his back and he slammed into the beast sending them both into a rolling heap. The Long Arm was the first back onto his feet and his spear swept low rattling the ribcage of the bones. It was at this point that he heard Dien’s shout and noticed that in the moments preceding it, and the few moments following that a couple of the other skeletons seemed to collapse, either dead or dying. Maybe skills were a good idea, seeing that he picked a skeleton that he could theoretically deal damage to with his own element without fear of those strange elemental property rebukes. Shrugging the boy fished into his vest and downed a Cooked Bile. This allowed the skeleton to get up but it didn’t matter, it gave him an even sharper view of the shadows and for a brief moment, he felt vividly and truly alive.

Immediately the Long Arm crouched low attempting to pull the invisible threads of energy he could from whatever darkness may have existed in the room. He felt a brief surge of energy, the Twilight in his body reacting with the one element he called his own. He focused narrowing his eyes and evading the thrust of the skeleton’s blade as he felt his weapon react to the energy within his body. He could feel the energy swirling inside it itching to be released. It was a joyous feeling, like he could be sharing his gift. Granted, he knew that it would be sharing it in the form of devastation and destruction but alas, sacrifices needed to be made. With much more force than was necessary he parried a thrust and then lunged at the bony beast. His shoulder impacted with the pelvis of the creature and he didn’t stop until he drove it into the wall. The jarring impact and sharp stab of pain made the boy wince but it was soon overridden by the desire to unleash the built up energy in his body.

He spoke softly, barely more than a whisper. ”Ani Doom.” It felt like the Archspear, now an extension of his hand, quite literally exploded. Purple streams of something strafed over his weapon before it crashed into the Gan representation. And he couldn’t stop. With every pass of the skill expiring he reactivated it for as long as his SP would hold out. It was addicting. The feel of it, the rush of the fact that he could gather something into his body that made him feel so . . . he couldn’t quite get the word for it, but it made the lines in his life seem sharper, details more vivid; and the release of it . . . He couldn’t really explain that either. It was extremely gratifying, it was like the stress and tension just flowed out of his body with his activation of the skill. His murmurs continued even after his was out of SP, the name of the skill, even that was seemingly a caress that rolled of his tongue. Even the name was addicting. But there was something he hadn’t noticed. In the middle of his mindless barrage the creature hadn’t been simply rendered useless, it had gotten in its own cuts and thrusts in with a startled grunt he backed off close to death. He backed off a few more feet warily before fishing around and swallowing a Health Drink. He hadn’t felt or noticed anything, no pain, nothing. The thought was somewhat scary, the fact that he had almost completely lost himself within this gift of his. The thought by itself was scary but he soon forced it out of his head as he noticed something. The Gan skeleton looked rather shaky.

He grinned as he felt various holes being stitched up and as his shoulder resocketed itself with a brief splork. He vowed somewhere in the future that he would be careful and then filed that information into the back of his mind as he focused on the beast in front of him. He crouched down again and shifted his weight waiting for an opportunity. He didn’t have to wait long. He parried another clumsy thrust and then sprung upward, his spear up as high as his arms could hold it before he slammed it down as hard as he could right onto the beast’s clavicle. He could have sworn he heard a snap as the creature crumpled into a heap of bones. With a final wolfish grin he drove his spear right through its skull, bearing his teeth to the satisfying crunch as the weapon pierced through the bone. His shoulders sagged as he turned around toward the next behemoth that needed to die.

He was revived quickly enough; the team was being competent about keeping their membership breathing. The archer continued to plug random skeletons with basic arrows while his SP rose, his regeneration rate easily outdistanced the amount consumed from the simplest weapon of his arsenal. This failed to attract the attention of any foe, as he was striking everyone but since most of his allies had picked a target, the damage he dealt was not enough to become the star attraction.

The former wavemaster responded by lowering his Golden Royal Bow for a moment when he received a personal beeping sound, flashmail. Dien’s idea seemed like a good one if the enemies were truly that stupid, so why not? Auth needed to take into account the differences of power however, since he was highly geared towards the thunder element and magic, at least more so than Dien. To maintain the balance of power, the mage let loose with his Rai Kruz only after every other fire spell Dien unleashed. He only broke this rule when the blademaster used a mightier magic, and in turn sped up his rate of fire. This tactic also allowed for his SP to recover somewhat without taking damage, both good for the long term. Once the Time Skeleton seemed to be on the breaking point, he made eye contact with Dien and they knew it was ‘time’ to end things. For the first time in unison, spells raged down upon the monster and devoured it. Bathed in fire, covered in electrical lines tapering off into nothingness inches from its body, the creature winced and then shattered.

A quick survey of the room revealed that only two other hindrances remained, those of fire and shadow. Since these unearthly beings were resistant to elements associated and contradictory to themselves, the archer found the Vak Skeleton to be the easy choice.

“Let’s group up and take them down! If we can keep them separated, they shouldn’t be able to slow us down any longer! Let’s go!”

It was hardly an applause rousing speech, but hopefully it would get the ball rolling the rest of the way. Auth tossed back a Mage’s Soul and then began his assault…

…Unintentionally, it finished too. The already damaged monster was functioning with a reduced tolerance to large voltages of electricity, and that was exactly what had coursed through the by now brittle bones. The arrow was just icing on the cake by this point, as that was enough to send the head flying off of the bony shoulders to land nicely in front of Senna. Oops. Hopefully this wouldn’t result in another bad impression. To Nall…they had to reach him soon.

Only one skeleton was left, and it was severely damaged. It limped, and its blade was flickering in and out of existence. Even so, it was advancing on Sheena, the closest player to it. She stood calmly, staring it down, daring it to make its move. Move it did, lunging with a stab towards her. It was only luck that the blade flickered when it did, the skeleton’s outstretched arm not quite reaching her.

Raising her fist in the air, she slammed it down on the back of the head of the skeleton, making contact for a mere moment before the skeleton was dead. It didn’t even have time to trigger its reaction ability, the blow was so final.

Immediately, the exit clicked open, and left them with a path to their destination. Sheena stared for a moment, then spoke.

”A long hallway of cells, with a room at the very end. That’s where Nall is, but… he’s not alone. Hurry!”

She didn’t pause to heal or to cure anyone, merely running down the cell hall. She ignored the cells on either side, which would prove to be empty should the party investigate along the way. Curiously empty.

The final room was a large sphere with a flattened base, lights in a high ring around the top shining down on a large cage in the middle of the floor. Inside that cage was a figure. He was bound by the arms to the outside top corners of his cubic cage, a pole stuck around his neck forcing him to kneel with head bowed.

Outside the cage were three figures. Two were wearing identical outfits to the archer they had left in stasis prior to obtaining the first item. They had to be the remaining lab techs. They had their backs to Nall, and were standing between him and the third figure.

The third figure was a swirling mixture of dust and water, spirals of each emanating from the floor around his feet and rising to a ball in the air just above his head. The sound he made was barely a whisper, but it was a sinister sound, sending chills down the spines of the freedom fighters. This was power uncontrolled, a malice born of pure Twilight. Whatever humanity was left in the lab tech who had tried to claim the items was there no longer.

“We won’t let you touch him! He’s the gift to our masters! You know as well as we do that we need their favor.” One of the techs said.

”I don’t need their favor. I have the power of two already! Soon I’ll have the power of three. Then I’ll devour them one by one, and no force will be able to stop me!”

“Then we will stop you right here.” The other tech said, stepping forward. From her hands dropped a pair of orbs that reached her ankles and stopped, connected to her hands by strings. She took a stance and began to swing the orbs back and forth. One began to glow red, while the other turned blue.

“Amalo…” Said the first. He drew a katana and brandished it. “She’s right. I’m sorry, old friend, but here you will die.”

”Fools.” The corrupted one gestured, and his aura abruptly merged into a single strand of thick mud. This strand split into two and lanced out, piercing through the katana of the first lab tech and through his torso. The other tech, Amalo, was luckier. She dodged to the side just in time, the strand of mud only jabbing through her shoulder. She cried out and sank to the ground, her poi going dark instantly. All color began to fade from her body as the strands withdrew. The other tech had already gone black, and was crumbling.

The Corrupt gestured again and the mud again struck, severing the cords that held Nall’s arms. They swept together and severed the pole, then withdrew.

”Give me the pendant.”

Nall’s voice rasped from his hunched position, as he fumbled with the cords around his wrist, removing them. ”Come get it.”

”You wish. We both know trying to take it from me would give you the chance you need to kill me.” Nall was silent. ”I repeat. Give it to me.”

Nall paused for a long moment, then his hands went to his neck. He unbuckled the remains of the pole and tossed it aside, then released the clasp to the pendant that hung around his neck for as long as anyone could remember. Twilight’s Tear, the Twilight Item of Time.

Sheena and Amalo cried out simultaneously, “NO!” but it was already too late. The pendant dropped from Nall’s hand and into the hand of the Corrupt.

Nothing happened.

Nothing continued to happen.

The Corrupt was unmoving, and for a long moment, no one dared to breathe. Then finally, Nall struggled to his feet and drew his blade. He placed it carefully tip-first against the forehead of the Corrupt and, with all his weight, shoved. The blade slid through and out the back of the once-man’s head, then back as Nall drew it out. He put his sword away and reached down, picking the pendant up out of the hand it had dropped into.

Instantly the Corrupt fell to the ground, the mud splashing around him, no longer controlled.

Nall walked to Amalo, who was rapidly losing color, as Sheena rushed to his side.

”You’re hurt! We need to get you back to Raine right away!”

Nall ignored her and knelt next to Amalo. ”You were the only civilized one of you all. Thank you for that.” He put the pendant back on, and closed his eyes. It began to shine, and he touched her with a hand. Her color froze.

Nall stood again, allowing Sheena to support him, where he would usually act chagrined. ”Let’s get out of here.”

”How benevolent of you, Nall! To save even one of your enemies. Touching!” Nall’s eyes narrowed, and Sheena pulled away from him, her fists up.

”Royce! Where are you hiding? Get out of here!”

”Once, child, I allowed you to call me out and let you live. This time, Raikiri isn’t about to destroy the server.” Suddenly, Royce was standing in front of Sheena, so close as to be inside her guard. Before the fist fighter could reach, Royce’s blades had stabbed through her shoulders and driven her to the ground. The twinblade grinned wickedly and pulled out one blade, running the tip across Sheena’s cheek. ”This time you crossed a line.”

Royce disappeared with her blades just as Nall’s sword crossed the space she had been. He staggered and fell to a knee, obviously too weak to fight, let alone use his pendant against a full-power Elite.

”Not so fast, Nall.” The harsh voice belonged to a blademaster the group had only seen once before, at the siege of Mac Anu. He was dressed in outdated but fancy military dress uniform, made of crimson fabric and emblazoned with golden flames. He had close-cropped red hair and his face was painted in a clownish white with red around his eyes and lips, which would have looked foolish on anyone else. On him it merely looked sinister. His blade was held at Nall’s neck. Royce reappeared next to Klive, the Fire Elite, and watched the rest of the group with a smile.

“So, you mean we can just take Nall and leave?” Dien asked, only slightly serious in his inquiry. At the very lest, it might get a chuckle out of the two titans of power before him, though more likely than not, he’d probably get nothing more than an eyeroll and a hit upside the head from anyone close enough to reach.

“Sure! If you can take him.” Royce grinned at the blademaster.

“Well therein lies the problem, I guess,” he replied, stepping forward slowly, his subtle glow finally returning, “I mean, I can assume that you’re not going to just let me waltz over there, grab everyone, and waltz back, and I can also assume that no matter how fancy my waltz is, it probably won’t be fancy enough to get past you and your friend there.” He paused, letting out a sigh as he stopped mid-stride. “Oh, and nice outfit.”

“Why thank you, I’m rather fond of it myself.” the woman replied, a smile crossing her face.

“Oh, you’re actually wearing something?” He replied with a smirk. “I was talking to the guy in the costume, though I suppose it works if you’re trying to look like a half-dollar whore.”

“And you without your fifty cents.” her smile disappeared in favor of a much more stern—and frightening—look. Still, that was to be expected from a woman scorned. The very fact that she didn’t just smite him right then and there actually meant that she’d taken it far better than he hoped.

“Wrong currency,” he shrugged, looking down and cracking his neck to one side, “‘sides which, I’ve already got enough girl problems. Dek Vakz!” The spell cast at Royce, though his first target of attack was the yet unnamed man in red. “Vak Crack!” He wanted to see what this man had to offer. Royce he remembered from Reinier’s description: beautiful woman in a skimpy bikini who liked nothing more than to seduce the weaker-willed to simply giving themselves over to her enslavement. From this, he gathered that they’d encountered the woman a number of times before—the fact that she wasn’t dead made his heart skip a beat when he realized just how close he was to her. Still, it was this other man who Dien wanted to test and find out about.

This attempt, however, proved to be rather futile. The Elite Hacker of Light had vanished, along with the effect of his spell, only to reappear a moment later with no ill effects. However, the maneuver of the man was something absurdly impressive. A kick landed square in Nall’s back, pinning him to the floor as he ripped the sword out his hands. One hand was then taken to block the skill with the weapon, while the other latched firmly onto Dien’s wrist, holding him in place. He swallowed hard before opening his mouth again.

“Didn’t know she could do that,” he managed, not bothering to try his wrist, “I’m Dien, by the way.” It was then that a strange sensation overcame him, a sort of uneasiness that seemed to resonate against his very core. Oh shit, he thought instinctively, not sure what was happening, when all at once the glow that encompassed him exploded, engulfing the man right in front of him in a deluge of flame for a moment and taking with it a chunk of SP. Not good, he thought, wide-eyed as the flare faded, really not good.

Nall had whimpered during the impromptu attack, his already depleted HP taking yet another hit from it. Royce had stepped back, but the man’s reaction was perhaps the most frightening thing he’d seen in a while. In the midst of the fiery aura that had shot out of Dien, he smiled. Worse than that, though, was how sinister the smile was—like the young, eager-to-fight blademaster had just made one of the biggest mistakes of his life. Of course he hadn’t even known what the hell was happening, so technically it actually was a really big mistake. Panic gripped him, but oddly enough neither of the Elites was retaliating. Think, Jed, he coached, say something!

“Y-you seem to know what that was,” he said, his nervousness obvious in the face of these two colossi, “that makes sense, I suppose.” He sure as hell didn’t. Ideas were being tested in his mind at a mile a minute, and while he tried to keep himself talking, he silently switched out headpieces, taking something with a bit more healing potential in it. At the very least, he’d be able to get Nall a little closer to fully operational. So he had a plan, and closing his eyes he slowed his breathing a bit. “So she’s Royce, I’m guessing,” he began again, still laboring to keep the twitter in his chest to a minimum, “and I’m guessing that smile puts you as the Elite of Fire, yes?”

“You could say that.” His sword was raised, before he named the skill, “Vak Crack.” His sword burst into bright blue fire, and he almost casually swung with the side of his blade, letting go of his prey’s wrist at the same time. And yet the force behind it was staggering, throwing Dien to the wall. It was an attack that he knew well, and yet it had been modified. Dealing with Elites, this was to be expected, and it was also to be expected that the same skills would have that much more power behind them. Haze wrapped about Dien as he assessed the damage. Most obvious was the pain that burned into his chest, but beyond that was the sinisterly less obvious: he was down to no more than 3 HP and now had Dek Vakz inflicted on himself.

He couldn’t help but cough when he slowly peeled himself off the wall, wincing as the pain of the burn multiplied with the sudden exertion. It was a second degree burn; this bastard knew what he was doing. Naturally, his hand sank into the bag at his side, pulling a Healing Potion out and preparing to activate it on himself. At least, until his eyes fell upon the pinned blademaster. Now that would throw them for a loop, wouldn’t it?

“Ol Repth,” he said very distinctly, activating the scroll on Nall and letting its healing potential pour itself into him. It wouldn’t exactly perfect the man’s condition, but at least some HP would allow him to do something without being killed. And do something he did. Before the spell had finished its course, he twisted around, hooking his arm around the Fiery Hacker’s leg and bringing him to one knee. On cue, Dien sprang forward, pulling Lake & Sea from his sheath, intent on taking full advantage of the Elite’s momentary preoccupation with his fearless leader. At least that was the plan, until the man rose and kicked his captor across the room. Royce stepped in, too, sticking her foot in front of the severely weakened interloper and sending him sprawling to the ground.

Of course, the open burn-cut on his chest made contact with the cell’s floor, which added to the pain and sent some of his own blood onto it. He groaned, the pain of the thing not yet departing. So that was the trick. Even if he didn’t want to kill you with a single hit, he’d wear you down with unrelenting pain. It was exhausting, to say the least, and he turned to face the woman who’d pushed him down so ruthlessly. “That wasn’t nice,” he groaned, flipping over to let the festering wound soak in the air.

“No it wasn’t,” she replied calmly, standing over the mostly-dead blademaster. God, this burn really freaking hurt, and in that instant he was glad of the fact that he’d donned the Newt Necklace.

“La Repth,” he managed, letting the healing waters begin their pathetic healing attempt, before looking up to the twinblade that lurked over him, “or should I have even bothered?”

“And now you’ve met Klive,” she replied, “enjoying yourself?”

“If you can call having my chest feel like it’s on fire, then yes,” he replied, wincing as his hand met the burn, “doesn’t say much, does he?”

“You just gotta get to know him.” She glanced up at the rest of the group. “Any of you planning to join-”

“Rue Revolver!” Dien shouted, activating the skill from just beneath the girl, catching her while she arrogantly looked away. That was one of the cardinal rules of dueling: never take your eyes off your opponent, especially not when they’re right next to you. He was sure he had her, the smirk crossing his face waiting to see her recoil. But the sword met no resistance as it passed through her body, which was also unaffected by the attack, until afterwards when it simply faded from the air.

“Where’re you aiming?” she asked from right behind him, and before Dien could react, her weapons found his spine, taking away all 153 HP he had remaining in a single blow. OMG H4X!!! The thought crossed Dien’s mind, and he thought instantly to pull open his command interface and teach this insolent bitch just who she was messing with—until he remembered that the command interface had vanished with his ability to log out, and with it any ability he would have had to show up this hacker. A sigh crossed his lips, escaping into the stale air of death.

“Well I thought you were right there,” he said, walking away to lean against a wall until his teammates made it into the room, “but apparently I was mistaken. Oh, and thanks for getting rid of that burn for me.” But she ignored him, just like he didn’t exist at all. That was a shame, too, because under different circumstances, Dien thought they’d probably get along just fine. But they were soldiers on opposite sides of a war, so that wouldn’t work.

In the mean time there was the matter of trying to combat these guys. If anything, the blademaster had learned just how ill-equipped the group was to actually combat them. He’d only seen the tip of the iceberg of their power, and he’d been completely overwhelmed. The only chance they had at actually fighting these guys was to get both Nall and Sheena back on their feet. Nighthand would probably also be helpful, though the fact that these were still probably twice his level didn’t speak well to that idea. There was the gun, but he couldn’t imagine either of the Elites standing still long enough to take the blow from the noisy machine, especially when they could just throw Nall in the way of the gunfire.

That was just humiliating, he thought, taking a seat as best he could against the rounded corner that started the wall and sighing heavily.

Sheena, Dien, Nall…the Elites could push everyone around if they tried to combat them. Why even bother? The important thing was to get in and out with Nall and the twilight items without any casualties. One on one there was a chance, just a small one if the elite in question was underestimating them. Well, they were probably always dismissed them as unimportant, but even if they tricked one foe, there was another boss to pick up the slack. It was too bad neither one was likely to turn on the other. Elite versus elite was probably a bit fairer of a match up but that was too much to hope for. The fact no underlings or monsters were present helped very little when it came down to it.A quick wave of his hand and a trio of spells flowed out to help piece together the fragmented group. A Rip Maen restored Dien to life, and the pair of La Repths that followed were meant to help bring Sheena and Nall to their feet again.The party only had a few basic options that were valid. Run. Fight. Surrender. The last would result in their enslavement or death. The first was probably impossible. The hackers usually did a good job sealing off the escape routes. Raine could probably punch a hole in it, but not without time. In the end they could only fight.

Auth slipped a generous amount of arrows from his quiver, and aimed his bow at Klive. One at a time, his hand let go of the end of the projectile. Each flew their path, but Rayo didn’t expect much from it. No Elite would be harmed by a simple arrow.

“I think I dislike you more than the monkey whore. Your interference earlier was not appreciated, that was something of a private matter. Still, as much as I would like to fight you one on one right now, we have more pressing matters. Get lost. MeRai Kruz! MeRai Don! MeRai Rom!”

With his magic power depleted, the archer detached a few scrolls at random that were attached to the inside of his cloak. Dark Traitor, Ice Floe, Raining Rocks, and Green Gale activated one after another in quick succession. Skulls swirling around the fire master were followed by ice shards and the rocks that followed, finished by the surrounding storm of leaves and vines. Klive could probably withstand all of it, but that was not the point. Constant attacks wouldn’t pin down an opponent of that caliber, but it might be enough to draw his attention for a few seconds. During that time if one of, if not all of, his comrades could launch into some sort of original yet effective team attack, they might be able to deal enough damage to make a break for it. Telling his team beforehand was too dangerous, the hackers might intercept flashmails and talking was out of the question. Sheena was so hyped up earlier, this might be the only opportunity she would need to act. Her speed was not like the kind Nall utilized, but her conviction seemed reliable.

Rayo pulled out one of his rarely used scrolls, The Lovers. It undoubtedly would fail, but if it worked even long enough for one attack, Klive might be able to do some serious injury to Royce.

The group took off the now open door after Sheena swatted the last skeleton. They flew down the hallway, the boy only briefly glancing sideways at the seemingly empty cells. If they weren’t empty, there would always be time later to come back and search for it. Hopefully. Raquar emerged into the holding room behind a couple other people and just in time to see Nall remove his sword from the giant corrupted mud beast. It splashed into a muddy puddle as the rest of the group trickled into the room. The Long Arm’s eyes searched the room hunting for their lost leader when a new voice entered the fray and the two Elites quite suddenly introduced themselves. And that was precisely when he got lost.

He had more or less been told that the Elites were bad, and that it was his duty as a Freedom Fighter to fight them, but why? From their immediate arrival onward, it wasn’t as if the boy sensed some overwhelming force of evil from them. Power sure, but he didn’t sense any blatant bloodlust or desire to utterly obliterate them. Being trapped in the game had essentially forced him to rely on his survival instincts, and his fight or flight mode had yet to kick in. He stood there trying to figure out exactly what he was going to end up doing when Dien went off and got himself killed. He supposed that that should be enough of a reason to launch some sort of offensive but he still found himself hesitating.

The Long Arm sighed as Rayo’s barrage of spells launched forward. It was time to stop thinking, just to do. He turned to Canti and spoke a single word, hoping that his archer companion had bought him enough time.

“Gun.”

His left had flipped the main switch as he reached out to grab the device out of the air. He spun around letting the force of the toss carry him around. His right hand managed to flip two of the power switches as he completed his revolution. He dropped to a knee and steadied his aim at the male of the two figures before flipping the final two power switches. He had noticed a couple times now that the female could move very fast, if not instantaneously, and that made for a poor shot so he settled for the other Elite hoping that he might actually get lucky. His left finger left the “trigger” and he prayed to something that the recoil wouldn’t hurt too badly. Or that maybe he could build up a resistance to the backlash.

((OOC: Short as hell but we figured the rest of the stuff would probably be better in a GM post))

Life. From out of nowhere, the blademaster’s body was returned to him, and he felt his mood change slightly. Depressed as he had become over the his inherent uselessness, the opportunity was presenting itself once again to try and be useful. Attacking the Elites was out: he had no SP left, and wouldn’t be able to do any damage from his low level anyway. Doubtless they’d noticed his resurrection, but he was no fool. No change in posture was made, nothing to clue them in to the fact that he was trying to think.

But what could he do? Exhausting his scroll collection was an option, but not a very good one. For one, his magic attack stat was too low to let the spells be of any use. They’d activate and run their course, but it’d be like shooting an air gun at a fully armed soldier—his targets wouldn’t even feel it. Well no, they might feel it if he were to launch a full-fledged summon spell at them, but thanks to his class, those were largely unavailable outside of scrolls, and even those were rare at his level.

There was always the gun, but he was nowhere near that. Hopefully one of his teammates would be smart enough to take a shot with an armor-piercing round, but there was no guarantee that it would actually hit. It was doubtless that they were already starting to charge it, so he had to act fast. As spell after spell activated on top of Klive, the blademaster was running out of options to try. Stop thinking, he told him, start doing.

But what could he do? He didn’t have enough SP for any kind of spell, and all that he could think to do was healing. His right hand sank into the bag of infinite holding at his side, accessing the inventory screen to see what kinds of healing items he had. A few Healing Potions remained, but he had no doubt that those would be more useful later on. Still, Sheena and Nall were both injured, and at the moment their best bet for surviving this fight was in getting them both back up to full health. Wait, what was…?!

There, at the bottom of the inventory list was a single item whose name seemed to carry with it more weight than any of the others therein contained. Divine Cross was its name, and already it seemed to be begging for use. Opening the attributes screen showed this beauty for what it truly was: Phal Repth. Phal Repth! He’d only ever seen the spell used once by one of Nall’s beauties, and the fact that the power was in his hands now was truly remarkable. He hadn’t a clue where it had come from, but that didn’t matter right now. With Phal Repth he could raise both Nall and Sheena to their feet; it really was a tremendous power to have.

“Sheena,” he said, trying not to attract the Elites’ attention, “how’s your HP?”

“Three quarters or so?” she responded, a quizzical look on her face.

“Okay then,” he replied, “good to know.” And it certainly was. Something like a Phal Repth wasn’t to go to waste, especially if it could only ever be used once. Ol Repth from a Healing Potion probably wouldn’t remedy that problem, and no amount of healing spell would actually be able to bring Nall’s HP anywhere close to full—except Phal Repth. A smirk crossed Dien’s lips, and he stood to his feet, pulling the item out of his bag and holding it forward. He could hear the gun rattling down the hallway and knew it was time to set it off.

“PHAL REPTH!” He shouted, targeting the spell to activate just between Nall and Sheena and catch them both in its radius. The shout would also serve to get the attention of the Elites, and distract them from what the real threat was. He wanted them to know two things with it as well; while he was weak, he was not exactly to be trifled with, and more than that, Nall and Sheena were both about to enter the fight. The panic on their faces would be priceless.

And just as luck would have it, the spell was cast just before the gun could activate. Now it was time to pray.

(In his own opinion, it was well worth the weakness to see the skeleton of time get his. Besides, while he HAD thrown the thing into a wall with the Vegas Vindicator, not a one of his friends had gone and attacked him out of spite. More to the point, the fricking Timelord hadn't caught his regeneration and he'd missed his TARDIS as well. Even with it tearing itself away from the wall, he'd shown that asshole what for, and without being suddenly ghosted. To Canti, that was a victory of sorts. He'd noticed Senna coming to his aid at the time, which was also heartening. Always good to be able to depend on his friends. The Twin Blade attempted to stand and got into a crouch before dizziness set in. He was still a half-and-half kind of guy, and that would be lasting a while.)

Canti: Okay... Five minute break...and smoke if ya got 'em.

(And he got 'em. Pulling out a cig, Canti lit up and watched the combat, every now and then flexing his wings to see if they or anything else would function. He couldn't fly at the moment, but he could feel the 'wind' beneath his wings. Physical recovery - rather than statistical - was coming along nicely. He stood up soon after he overheard Dien and Sheena talking. Dien suspected what Canti had already guessed at. Sheena hadn't exactly been subtle about it, though, considering how desperately she wanted to save Nall. Granted, they all wanted him back in one piece, but she wanted it more, much more. Still though, you had to admire her adherence to the "No man left behind" feeling. Canti felt he was an asshole at times, but he wasn't sure he could leave people to die. Not really. The Twin Blade tossed away his spent cigarette, waiting and watching as he began to feel better, stronger. The effects of the extractor-gun were beginning to pass. His Deks were spent and he saw his stats slowly returning to normal. And it was about this time that the skeletons began to die. The time skeleton was the last to go, and by then...Canti felt normal.)

Canti: I'll have to tell Raq about this...

Quote:

TO: RaquarFROM: CantiSUBJECT: The Gun

Apparently, the gun works in perfect math. Half the switches for half power and half your character's life, spirit, and stats. All and it takes everything. And so on. Important to know, I'd say.

(So saying, he took up the heavy-set weapon once again. Hard to say whether it helped, but it certainly did well to remain in their hands instead of anybody else. Now, they had a way out, and he naturally followed, keeping to the ground for the moment. Something seemed...wrong. Instinctively wrong. He felt it, but didn't know how to place it. Probably the fact that they really didn't have time... Yes, time. Time and time again, god-dammit! There was the fear of getting caught. And then there was that one lab guy, the one that was currently a big hella-mess and...standing right...over there.)

Canti: Wait, hang on... What's this?

(Sheena had hurried them along because she sensed Nall and someone else, and it didn't take too much a stretch of imagination to figure out who, but...he REALLY wasn't alone. There was their corrupt monster-guy that had stupidly gotten his World-body heavily-mutated by Nall's Twilight items...and then there were two other hackers, more lab-techs. They seemed to be in disagreement, because the creature before them was no longer human, and less than even one of Marionette's puppets... Naturally, no one interfered with the immediate altercation. It was a hacker squabble. Canti certainly wasn't gonna get involved until something came of this struggle. The beast wanted Nall's pendant, the thing that Sheena had mentioned. The...idea of it actually made Canti grin, for the same reason that Nall handed it over. It's a little thing called pattern recognition. This ambitious nutcase had tried to use the last two items that Nall had and they both rejected him, infecting and mutating him badly, and they...were regular elements. Did it not follow that the last one would also have an adverse effect? It made perfect sense, and that is why the creature suddenly froze in time, unmoving as Nall freed himself with his sword.)

Canti: It's like the man says. When expecting a boobytrap, send in a boob.

(And the great mud-man was it, now all sloshy on the floor, thanks largely to Nall once again. Sheena immediately went to help him, but the ex-Elite decided to help the girl that had survived the onslaught. That was fine. The other lab-tech called them all murderers. Well, that ought to show the stuck-up bastard, assuming he recovered at all. Now then, they were about to make like a tree when...)

"How benevolent of you, Nall! To save even one of your enemies. Touching!"

(Oh no...)

"Royce! Where are you hiding? Get out of here!"

(This was bad timing... The Elites were here! Well, two of them. These were the guys the prison staff had called for. Royce and another that they'd seen, Klive. Canti had only seen him from a distance in Mac Anu. Well, technically both of them, and it was a while ago by his understanding. They lashed out at Sheena and Nall, then shouted at the rest of the group.)

"Well? Come and get them!"

(Dien attempted the direct approach first. Always a diplomat and then a fighter... Yeah, right. Like that was gonna work. This wasn't any puzzle! The Blademaster was being made a fool of by that female Twin Blade, and that was a little more than Canti could stand. Dammit, he and Dien had been through it all from the start of this mess! The winged Twin Blade was about to embark on his own actions when two things happened at once. First, Rayo began to unload a heavy barrage of spells, and second...)

"Gun."

(...he passed the Vegas Vindicator over to Raquar. Perfect. Now he was free up, and moved off to the side to see if he could get a bead on the enemy. Rayo's barrage continued, and Canti began to help him using explosive gouts of Darkness Flame... Only, in very quick order, an unexpected thing happened. Royce vanished!)

"You know I'm not weak to that, right?"

(He felt her presence an instant before she spoke. She'd gotten behind him, the same way she'd suddenly appeared before Sheena. Right. This Twin Blade was light, in the same way that the skeleton from before was light. It wasn't his antithesis, same as he wasn't hers. Canti actually smirked at that, though Royce probably wouldn't see it.)

Canti: That makes two of us.

(And with a crunching snap sound that could only be discribed as bone-displacement, both of Canti's arms whipped back to blast Royce with Darkness Flame blasts that were large enough to take collateral damage...if there were any. Actually, he was far away enough from other people that it wouldn't happen. Because he had a feeling something like that MIGHT take place and he didn't have time to hold back. These were still Elites, and right now...Canti may only rate a Suraisu, or a little better. Who knows? it didn't matter. Because instead of trying to dodge, Royce just soaked up all the damage as she pointed two fingers and shouted "Ray!". This was actually a strange thing, since Canti didn't feel any pain, per se. He felt nothing, and arched an eyebrow at the beam of light that was exiting his shoulder and lancing through the ground. Hah hah... You, sir, have been Twilight-blasted. The Twin Blade saw his arm fall to his side, no longer feeling it or being able to make it move at all. His other hand was knocked aside and soon, there was a deathgrip on the back of his neck!)

Canti: Gah! Fuck! I know that hold! Dammit dammit DAMMIT!!

(He struggled. Oh boy did he struggle... He felt a bit of the beast come out as his clawed hand went to lash out, hitting nothing. But, in short order, Canti was forced to his knees by Royce's hold. She had the advantage, with all the nerves in his neck going wild. If Rey wanted to comment about now, she'd find him exceedingly busy at the moment. The only thing keeping the black-eyed Twin Blade from going fucking MAD was that he was serving a purpose. Just keep her strung along... Now that they WERE here and they had to deal with 'em, the best way to handle 'em is with their guard stupidly down while they pound on insects like him! Canti was always good for a little distraction, especially with Dien on the mend with Sheena, and Raq playing to fire the big gun. And with that in mind, Canti managed to force out through gritted teeth...)

Canti: I'm not...into kinky stuff...bitch.

"Well since you like making light of the situation... Ultima!"

Canti: Shit.

(Canti's world went completely white, not one second after an extreme kind of heat - not fire element - bursted against his neck. You, sir, have been Twilight-toasted. The Twin Blade's body was incinerated in a sudden flash of something that he'd no chance to see himself, since it came from behind. His HP was knocked down to zero and he was VERY ghosted soon after. What everyone else would see is a badly-disoriented ghost-form of the Twin Blade, blinded by the light. Of course, once he DID recover enough, you could definitely hear a comment from him...)

Canti: I hate bad puns...

(...which meant that he wasn't permanently damaged, at least.)

OOC: Happy New Year, all. Sorry I've been out during this sudden turn of events, but I do that every year, so it happens. Anyway, glad to be back.

_________________I'll have a doozy of a sig later, I swear. It'll reflect ".hack//CODE" an' everything.

Hey look! A profile! It's got items and stats and things! Cool! If it isn't fully up to date, it will be, so don't worry 'bout it.

Klive was arrogant. As cautious as he was, he saw all the attacks that Rayo decided to unleash, and he knew they would be trivial to soak up and ignore. He almost decided to play with the charm effect, to let it endure and give Royce a bit of a fright. She could use it. Scaring her into line would be a good use.

So it was, that through the haze of spells and his own amusing thoughts, Klive was a fraction of a second too late to realize the strange gun they carried was being discharged, in his direction. The blast, which he recognized too late as an amalgam of Twilight and Data Drain, struck him full on.

The gun manifested as a beam of energy that looked vibrant and full of color, but highly transparent. It almost looked like the colors weren’t actually in this world, but were bleeding over from another place. The beam ripped a hole through the spell effects surrounding Klive, leaving them distorted and warped before they faded away completely. Klive himself was slammed at high speed into the opposite wall with enough force to shake the entire cavern, a cloud of dust from pulverized wall rising to fill the air.

Royce immediately appeared before the freshly ghosted Raquar and, bringing both of her knives down hard, tore the gun apart. She kicked, scattering the pieces across the hallway, making it impossible to piece the gun back together.

”Distortion…” Nall muttered from the floor, and his pendant began to shine.

Sheena’s eyes grew wide as everything around her began to slow. She drew herself up from the ground and lunged at Royce, intent on destroying her before she could move.

To the rest of the party, Sheena was a blur, her fist slamming into Royce before her kick had even finished. Royce twisted, diverting most of the force of the blow, but it wasn’t enough. She was sent spinning to the floor and stumbled, rising angrily, her bracelet glowing. When the light faded, she was at full HP.

”That wasn’t fair!”

”It wasn’t supposed to be.” Sheena growled, and disappeared again. She arrived behind Royce, punching at her again, but Royce knew her game. She was powered up by Nall’s Twilight, something Royce had encountered dozens of times before.

Sheena’s punches were delivered with such force that, should they connect, Royce would need her full heal again. Royce’s combination of illusion-based misdirection and high-speed evasion made her nearly impossible to do more than graze. This was a fight above the caliber of the rest of the group; even Nighthand was having trouble keeping up.

Deciding to investigate their other threat, Nighthand drew his sword and, carefully avoiding the blurred pair fighting to the side, moved towards the hole Klive was in. If he was stripped of all his equipment, now would be the perfect time to finish him off and steal the item he held.

Peering through the dust, the heavyblade tried to find the form at the end of the hole. Still he couldn’t see anything. He leaned closer, bring his sword around to poke with, when his eyes caught a pale glow. He stepped closer, and

A massive blast of fire caught him and send him sprawling on the ground, his clothing on fire, his skin blackened. He tried to rise, when Klive, wreathed in an aura of blue-white fire, stepped out from his hole. His sword, coated in the same blue flame that had done so much to Dien, drove through Nighthand’s torso and left him ghosting on the floor.

Five calm steps and Klive whipped his sword around, scraping a line through the floor and severing Nall’s head at the shoulders. Immediately Sheena’s blurring stopped and, with her advantage lost, Royce impaled her on her daggers. Sheena dropped to the floor.

”We have toyed with them long enough.”

”The other would be pissed if we let them get away.”

”They have nowhere to run.”

Royce flickered and appeared at Klive’s side. The Elite of Light’s bracelet flashed, and Klives gloves flashed in return. Both flashed a second time, and an eruption of light and fire filled the room. It expanded outwards, and in a flash, the entire dungeon had been wiped clean. Royce and Klive were the only ones left. Everyone else, their bodies removed, their ghosts moved elsewhere.

* * *

(OOC: This thread is over now. Grades will come soon, and the next thread will begin once the EC thread is completed, which shouldn’t take too long. Meanwhile, sit tight. A shift is coming.)

Good job to Dien and Raquar, who posted quite a bit more than almost everyone, Canti drawing close. I know the break made it a bit odd.

Anyways, since the odd nature of the thread's ending is pretty clear, if you didn't keep up or didn't participate in this half of the thread, and still want to be in the next one, contact me right away so I can figure out a way in for you.

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